Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

He was a fire chief who became a ballroom dance instructor. In both roles, he has been accused of sexual harassment in Orange County.

Our Orange County sexual harassment attorneys are dismayed to learn that an individual who acted inappropriately toward adult employees was then placed in a position of trust as a dance instructor working with children.

According to The Orange County Register, the 53-year-old suspect has been arrested on a charge of child annoyance, after he reportedly sent sexually explicit text messages to a student, who is 15. In the past, he was accused of sexual harassment toward a younger female paramedic.

The newspaper reports that the defendant, of Cerritos, used to be the fire chief at La Habra Heights Fire Department. While in that role, a paramedic sued the city, saying she suffered repeated gender discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as libelous comments - all from the defendant.

In her civil complaint, which was filed in 2008, the paramedic reported that the chief sent her some form of communication, apologizing to her for "making her feel bad," saying he would make it up to her by "making her feel good," with a promise to make her feel "Like you have never felt before." It ended with the plea: "Love me."

The complaint also details how the chief often talked about his private life and sexual ventures. He even once asked her to rendezvous with him at a local hotel to engage in sexual activity.

The chief, who had worked with the department since 2002, resigned at the end of 2008. By the following summer, the city reached a confidential settlement agreement with the accuser. An insurance company check was made out to the accuser in the amount of nearly $400,000.

After that, the former fire chief landed a job working as a part-time dance instructor at a Santa Ana public charter school, where there are more than 1,500 students attending middle and high school from dozens of cities throughout Southern California. School officials say they conducted a background check, but found nothing that would have raised any red flags. During that time, he met the 15-year-old student, and court records indicate that he worked to gain her trust.

Then, starting last fall, he reportedly began sending sexually suggestive text messages. He texted her details of his personal life and his romantic relationships. He then asked if she would be his girlfriend.

The texts weren't discovered until other students began to comment that the relationship between the two was odd.

The school subsequently placed him on leave and he was ultimately fired in mid-January.

Under California Penal Code 647.6, a charge of child annoyance is a misdemeanor. The maximum penalties he faces in the criminal case are 1 year in jail and lifetime registration as a sexual offender.

Our Orange County sexual harassment attorneys hope that this individual's next employer does a more thorough background check, as everyone deserves the right to work and study in a harassment-free environment.

Continue reading "Orange County Sexual Harassment Case Involves Repeat Offender" »

A petition is circulating among students at the University of California Berkley, demanding the termination of an administrator who violated the schools' sexual harassment policy.

Our California sexual harassment attorneys are encouraged that students feel emboldened to stand up to this issue. In fact, more than 160 signatures - and counting - have been collected.

The school's former assistant vice chancellor, Diane Leite, was recently demoted and had her pay slashed after it was discovered that she approved raises for an employee that she was sexually involved with.

And it wasn't just a single pay increase either - it was five. In fact, over a two-year time frame, she bumped the employee's pay from $78,700 to about $110,200.

While this case may not rise to the level of a civil lawsuit, the fact that a boss is sexually involved with a subordinate can certainly open the door for a California sexual harassment case. Even if a relationship appears consensual, it can leave a wide swath of gray areas and lingering questions. For example, did the employee feel he had to consent to a sexual relationship in order to receive the raises?

No such allegations have been raised, but the administrator opened herself up to them by not acting appropriately when an intimate relationship with a subordinate evolved.

While it is not against California law for a boss to be romantically involved with a subordinate, the University of California is smart to have implemented a policy that forbids it, in order to protect itself from potential litigation.

According to that policy, once the former chancellor established a romantic relationship, she had a responsibility to remove herself from a position of any decision-making regarding the career of her beau.

Because she violated that policy, Leite was moved to a research development office, and her pay was decreased from $188,500 to $175,000, according to The Daily Californian, the student newspaper. University officials have characterized the action taken against Leite as "severe," especially considering that she had worked at the school since 1982.

Many students, however, feel that isn't enough, especially considering the school's policy allows for termination when someone clearly violates the rules. The petition urges that such an egregious ethics violation should not be overlooked by the student body, and that such "corruption" shouldn't be tolerated.

Both Leite and her love interest had gone through the school's sexual harassment training multiple times - so it was not as if they weren't aware of the policy. What's more, it's alleged that Leite put pressure on another employee to rubber stamp pay increases for the person with whom she was involved. When that employee protested, saying the subordinate had not earned such a raise.

State Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, has been quoted as saying that the punishment is insufficient and in no way serves as a deterrent to future cases.

Continue reading "California Sexual Harrassment: Bosses, Subordinates and the Law" »

It's telling that several times throughout Britney Spears' bodyguard's claims of sexual harassment in Los Angeles, the media repeatedly termed the case "bizarre" and "weird." One even went so far as to call the complainant a "pest," and the recent settlement a "pay-off."

Our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys can't help but think that the reason it was deemed so odd - and the accuser treated so harshly - is because usually, sexual harassment cases involve women filing suit against men. When it is the other way around, there is a tendency to assume the claims aren't real, or worse, that the male victim should actually be happy that it's happening.

Of course, that's ludicrous on all counts, but it is that stigma that often prevents male victims from coming forward to make a legitimate claim. It goes to show how far we still have to go as a society in recognizing that sexual harassment exists in a wide range of circumstances.

For example, imagine the following circumstances were brought to light by a female regarding her male employer:

• The boss exposes himself to the female employee;
• The boss invites his female employee into a room where he is standing naked;
• The boss calls the female employee a homosexual slur for refusing sexual contact;
• The boss routinely failed to wear underwear - and made it obvious to the female employee and others;
• The boss ensured that a female employee would encounter him having sex with another person.

Any one of these would be taken as a very serious matter in that light. The fact that those are the allegations made by a male employee against his famous female boss should make them no less serious.

Further bolstering the claim of the 31-year-old complainant is that he is a former law enforcement officer.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the summer of 2010, was just settled earlier this month. The details of that settlement, however, have not been disclosed.

Several of Spears' guards reported they were fearful of being targeted by her sexual advances, but this one in particular appeared to catch the brunt of it. A friend of the complainant was quoted as saying that he wanted to be a good body guard, but the situation ultimately became unbearable.

What was also interesting in this case was that the complainant, in his court document, listed reasons why he was not interested in pursuing a sexual relationship with Spears. Those reasons included that she had "obnoxious" habits, such as smoking like a chimney, and that she constantly broke wind, swore loudly and often and did not practice proper hygiene habits, including bathing, brushing her teeth or wearing shoes. He also believed she was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.

We say this is interesting because a female complainant would not have to explain why she would not want to have sex with her male employer. It would simply be understood that unwanted sexual advances of any sort are inappropriate.

Continue reading "Britney Spears' Los Angeles Sexual Harassment Case Highlights Gender Bias" »

Controversy is becoming El Camino College's middle name, following its recent settlement of a second California sexual harassment case and its fourth that has been filed within a year.

Our El Camino sexual harassment attorneys know that one case is often enough to tarnish the reputation of an esteemed university. Four seemingly signals an epidemic.

In fairness, two of those cases resulted in victories for the university when they went to trial. The other two, however, have been settled by the university for between $750,000 and $2.5 million.

Both of the latter cases, according to The Contra Costa Times, reportedly involved the same, 75-year-old individual.

Sexual harassment in a California workplace is a form of discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. It's also illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and retaliating against someone for refusing to submit to sexual advances in the workplace is also illegal.

Some of the quid-pro-quo situations are fairly straightforward, i.e., "Sleep with me or I'll fire you." Other situations, though, are more nuanced. For example, you file a complaint about harassment and you subsequently are forced to take an unexplained leave of absence, although the person you accused continues to work. Retaliation can also take the form of reassignment or demotion.

In the El Camino College cases, the violations appear to be quite blatant.

In the most recently-settled case, a 53-year-old administrative assistant filed a complaint that for six years, between 2004 and 2010, the ex-vice president and dean of the school started at her chest, touched, kissed and groped her and demanded she have sex with him or face a poor job evaluation or even firing. When she refused his overtures, he reportedly responded by yelling at her, taking work away from her and criticizing her work.

She was awarded $750,000.

Another woman, who has since left her position as a secretary at the school, also alleged extreme harassment at the hands of the same individual. The details of her case were even more alarming. According to her, the administrator raped her in his locked office, and offered her hundreds of dollars for sex. She was ultimately awarded $2.5 million.

The administrator in the case, who no longer works for the university, flatly denied the claims, saying the he did have a sexual relationship with his 34-year-old secretary, but it was consensual. At the time of his retirement in 2010, he had been at the school since 1975, and was earning a yearly salary of more than $140,000. He was even inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Given his clout within the college, it's easy to understand why two subordinates would believe him when he reportedly said he was in good with the union president, so it would be pointless to utter a word of any of it to anyone.

The two other cases that went to trial involve a discrimination case by a former female dean who alleged she was a victim of the school's "good old boys" club that stunted her career advancement and a professor who said she was pushed out for taking too many days off following a sexual assault she said was perpetrated on her by a former dean several years ago.

Continue reading "California Sexual Harassment Cases Plague El Camino College" »

This is a time of serious struggles. Finding a job is critical to acquiring health insurance, money for food, gas, electricity; basically, everything. Because there is so much competition in this current job market, employees fear that they can easily lose their jobs. Although these fears are understandable, people cannot allow themselves to be mistreated in their workplace.

Our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys understand the struggle so many people are facing, and we are here to fight for your rights if you have been harassed in your workplace.

Dulaney v. Packing Corp. of America, et. al. is an recent appeal from a district court granting summary judgment to an employer in a sexual harassment case. This case involves a company, Packing Corp. of America ("PCA"), which is a manufacturer. It serves to illustrate the intricacies involved in Los Angeles sexual harassment and wrongful termination cases.

This appellate court discusses a very common defense used by employers in these sexual harassment cases, the Faragher-Elleth doctrine. This doctrine protects an employer where they are sued because of the harassment of an employee by a manager. It requires a nexus between the employers' actions and a tangible change in the employment of the employee. Additionally, the court says it must observe the care the employer took in preventing and resolving and harassment as well as the employee's acts to use corporate safeguards in instances where this is occurring.

Defendant had a mostly male staff in their Roanoke, Virginia facility. There was no employee on duty with a managerial job title although there was an employee who acted in a managerial capacity. Bobby Mills had the authority given to him by his superiors to assign work, send employees home early from work without pay, and discipline employees in accordance with the company disciplinary structure. This disciplinary structure required Mills to assess points to employees who misbehaved. Mills was also tasked with reporting employee complaints and misconduct to the company's management. Furthermore, Mills had sole access to the administrative section of the office during this second shift.

PCA had a general practice of hiring temporary hourly employees but offering them permanent employment after a certain amount of hours was worked. Plaintiff was hired as a temporary glue helper on the second shift in this Virginia facility. Seeking to advance, plaintiff discussed with Mills the possibility of her becoming a permanent employee. Although PCA claims Mills was not working in a managerial capacity, he ultimately extended an offer on behalf of PCA for permanent employment to Dulaney.

Once plaintiff was a permanent employee, Mills told plaintiff that he would make her life "hell" if she did not engage in sexual conduct with him. Fearing she would lose her employment, Dulaney assented and began to have sexual relations with Mills within the workplace. These encounters occurred within the sections of the facility that only Mills had access. Mills allegedly threatened plaintiff indicating that if she ever failed to cooperate with his sexual requests he would scream at her, spread rumors about her and interfere with her work. On instances when plaintiff refused Mills, she was sent home early without pay.

Subsequently, Mills began to spread sexually explicit rumors about the plaintiff which plaintiff argues made her co-workers mistreat her. Because of this increasingly unproductive environment, Dulaney reported these harassing actions to Mills' direct supervisor. This supervisor, Donnie Woodward, responded to plaintiff indicating that she should be careful because she was "replaceable." He threatened to fire plaintiff if she reported these things to his supervisor.

After significant time in this uncomfortable situation, Mills was fired. Unfortunately plaintiff was ostracized and bullied by her co-workers leading her to seek employment elsewhere. There is significant dispute surrounding the severance agreement.
Plaintiff then sued PCA and Mills for gender discrimination and sexual harassment and sought to hold them jointly and severally liable for compensatory and punitive damages.

PCA asserted the Faragher-Elleth doctrine which provides a defense for a company in cases of supervisor harassment if: if the employer exercised reasonable care to promptly correct any acts of sexual harassment and it can be found that the plaintiff unreasonably failed in taking advantage of the corporate safeguards available to avoid this type of harm. In determining whether this defense is available to an employer, the court must first evaluate whether the plaintiff suffered a "tangible employment action." This is often defined as a hiring, firing, failing to be promoted, reassignment, or a decision causing the employee to have a significant change in benefits.

The court here held that based on the facts it appears that the plaintiff was in fact fired because the conditions were made so that she could not continue to work at PCA. Therefore, it is sufficient where there is a nexus between the harassment and the tangible employment action.

Therefore, because there was still a dispute of fact surrounding the break of employment with PCA, this court found that summary judgment was inappropriate and the case should be reheard by the lower court.

Continue reading "Dulaney v. Packing Corp of America Sheds Light on What Qualifies as a "Tangible Employment Action" " »

The California Supreme Court has upheld a ruling by a lower court that gave students the right to sue school districts when they have suffered sexual harassment or sexual abuse by employees.

Our Orange County sexual harassment lawyers are pleased that the courts sided with students, which will help hold districts accountable when children are targeted by predatory employees.

School districts have a responsibility to keep students safe from sexual harassment in Orange County and throughout the state. Sexual harassment law, as defined in California Penal Code 1604.11, specifically deals with workplace harassment. The law essentially says that employers can be held liable for sexual harassment between employees if the employer knew or should have known about it, but did nothing to intervene.

Of course, schools are workplaces, so teacher-to-teacher or administrator-to-teacher harassment would certainly fall under the law's purview. Students, however, should be afforded even greater protections because often, the abuser is coming from a unique position of power.

In this case, C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District, the minor child sued the school district for damages following alleged sexual harassment and abuse from a school guidance counselor.

According to the suit, the victim, identified only as C.A., said that he was sexually harassed and abused by the head female guidance counselor when he was 14 and 15 years-old from January 2007 to about September 2007. The guidance counselor, under the premise of helping the student, began driving him home. Eventually, this led to her touching and hugging him, and eventually advanced into more egregious violations, including masturbation, oral sex and intercourse.

The plaintiff in the case alleged that the district either knew or should have known what was going on. If it did not, it was due to a lack of supervision and failure to have in place sexual harassment and abuse guidelines to protect students.

The school argued it wasn't responsible because the acts in question occurred off school grounds.

The court, however laid out that school administrators have a responsibility to take what would be considered reasonable measures to protect students from abuse and harassment from "foreseeable sources," which include counselors or teachers that they know or have reason to think might be perpetuating such abuse.

An attorney for the district says the ruling is going to expose districts to lawsuits that can be filed regardless of whether such allegations are true. He argued that the ruling is likely to interfere with the state's ability to educate students.

Our Orange County sexual harassment attorneys would point out: How can a student focus on any form of quality education if he or she is being harassed or abused?

Continue reading "Orange County Sexual Harassment Victims Can Sue Schools: C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District" »

Sexual harassment in Los Angeles is not relegated solely to the private sector.

Unfortunately, as our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys are aware, the military has become notorious for turning a blind eye to sexually abusive behavior within the ranks.

Perhaps even more frustrating for the victims, even when such incidents are reported through the proper chain of command, is that internal investigations frequently find little or no fault.

There is reference in police work to "the thin blue line." That's the phrase used to describe the tendency of officers to cover for their own - even when it's another of their own that has been harmed. It's the same in the military, perhaps more so, and justice is often elusive.

Now, some California lawmakers are petitioning to have military sexual harassment and sexual abuse cases tried before an impartial, third-party court.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, called for such a measure the same week that eight former and current military members filed suit against the military, alleging they had been assaulted, raped or harassed while serving, and were subsequently singled out by superiors after reporting the incidents.

Speier said the system is broken, called the threat of sexual assault in the military an "epidemic" and said there is a code of dishonor that punishes victims and protects rapists.

The Pentagon, on the other hand, insists that it has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and sexual abuse. At the end of last year, a new policy was announced that allowed those who had filed complaints of harassment or assault to quickly transfer into a new unit to avoid retaliation.

But Speier and others say that isn't enough. Alarming statistics indicate that by the Department of Defense's estimates, nearly 20,000 service members were sexually assaulted or raped in 2010 alone. What's more, less than 15 percent actually report those incidents. Of those, less than 10 percent are prosecuted and a miniscule amount are convicted.

She cited as an example the case of a female Airman First Class who was reportedly raped by a co-worker who broke into her room in 2009. The alleged perpetrator was supposed to go before a court martial, but a superior officer canceled the hearing. The victim was eventually transferred to another unit, but suffers from major panic attacks.

For the eight women who filed the lawsuit, a spokeswoman says they have suffered anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. One even attempted suicide.

Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys believe that everyone deserves to work in a place free of harassment and abuse. The fact that a superior wears a badge or a uniform should make no difference. Military members are expected to put their lives on the line in combat zones. They shouldn't face a war zone within their own units.

Continue reading "Sexual Harassment in Military Targeted by Los Angeles Lawmakers" »

A physician assistant has been awarded $168 million in her California sexual harassment lawsuit - believed to be the largest award ever in such a case.

Our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys applaud the jury's decision to send a clear message that such behavior should never be tolerated in the workforce.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the jury sided with the assistant by ordering her former employer, Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, to pay $42.7 million for mental anguish and lost wages and $125 million in punitive damages, or basically, to punish them.

The assistant reportedly had worked for a number of hospitals on the East Coast and in California before landing a position at Mercy, which is a branch of Catholic Healthcare West. She told a jury that while it was not uncommon for surgeons in the cardiac field to be somewhat vain and engage in what she termed "locker room humor." But this, she said, crossed the line into intimidation, bullying and retaliation - on top of the sexually inappropriate behavior.

She started the job, working with heart surgeons, in late summer of 2006. Within two years, she was fired after filing the last of 18 complaints regarding the doctors' inappropriate behavior, as well as patient care issues.

According to her testimony in U.S. District Court, one surgeon in particular targeted her relentlessly. According to her, the surgeon one time stabbed her with a needle and would repeatedly greet her in the morning by slapping her on the bottom and saying, "I'm horny." In another instance she recalled, that same surgeon broke the ribs of a patient who was under anesthesia because the surgeon was angry.

Another doctor reportedly called her a "stupid chick," demeaned her heritage and asked if she was joining the terrorist network, Al Qaeda.

Superiors at the hospital said that it was actually the assistant who was the problem. While a trial court did find her guilty of professional misconduct (which was the basis for her firing and subsequently, a denial of her unemployment benefits). The circumstances of that aren't clear. However, what we do know is that there is nothing an employee can do that will excuse sexual harassment from another party.

A Los Angeles sexual harassment attorney was quoted as saying that jurors were shocked by the entire workplace environment. Over the course of the trial, which spanned three weeks, a number of witnesses described a culture in which female employees were regularly denigrated.

Witnesses said because cardiac surgeons typically made the most money for the hospital, administrators were more willing to look the other way when it came to illegal behavior.

Sexual harassment laws are outlined in California Penal code 1604.11. Under the statute, an employer can be held liable for sexual harassment when they knew or should have known what was going on, and did nothing to stop it.

Continue reading "California Sexual Harassment Case Garners $168 Million Verdict" »